Ollie Bearman struggled for performance during the 2026 F1 Dutch GP. It was an unfortunate weekend for Haas, as both Bearman and teammate Esteban Ocon DNFed with mechanical failures.
While Bearman appeared to have the upper-hand on his experienced teammate during the first-half of the season, he seemed to be having more difficulties than Ocon at the F1 Dutch GP, with a Q1 exit and slow race pace.
Bearman spoke about his challenging weekend during a print media session following his DNF in Zandvoort.
Bearman on Lap 1 incident at F1 Dutch GP
The F1 Dutch GP had a chaotic start, which saw home race hero Max Verstappen crash on Lap 1. At the same time, Audi driver Gabriel Bortoleto took a spin in the middle of the track, with Nico Hulkenberg narrowly avoiding a collision with his teammate.
Bearman spoke about the incident, expressing gratitude that everyone remained okay.
“Yeah, that was close. I mean, it was very sketchy on Lap 1 there. The problem was that the banking was kind of in the shade at that point. The rest of the track was totally dry and that part was soaked.
“A a bit of a scary situation, but I’m glad everybody’s okay.”
Early retirement at the Dutch GP
Following the incident on Lap 1, a red flag was called. When the cars returned to track for the formation lap, Bearman appeared to stop on-track. He reported that his engine switched off, marking a technical failure for the Haas driver.
“Just on my side I felt the engine switch off and that’s all.”
Red light at the pits
Prior to his DNF, Bearman appeared to have an incident while exiting the pits for his formation lap. The pit exit light had turned red before the British driver could exit the pits.
Bearman found the situation “confusing,” stating he was unsure why the light was on to begin with at the 2026 F1 Dutch GP.
“I looked with the team about it. Honestly, I was quite surprised I didn’t see it.
“Of course, when I was driving on the pits, I was more focused on having my tyres in the window. And honestly, it’s not really a session where you’re fixated on the red light. I mean, of course, when you’re exiting the pits at the end of a qualifying or the end of a practice and you know it’s tight, you’re only looking at the light.
“When I was exiting there, I was just making sure I keep a good gap to the car ahead. Looking back on the onboard, it just turned red one second before I passed it, so I was really unlucky. But I don’t know why it even turned red, which is a bit confusing.”
Bearman reacts to Haas Double DNF at F1 Dutch GP
Unfortunately for Haas, Bearman was not their only retirement of the race. While Ocon showed decent pace, running up in P13 at points of the race, he ultimately DNFed with a mechanical issue on Lap 55.
Bearman spoke about the team’s double DNF, explaining that Haas plan to bring an upgrade package to Monza.
“No, it’s been a poor weekend from a reliability side, but also from a performance side.
“On Esteban [Ocon’s] car they had a bit of a better one, but still we’re not where we need to be. Next week we have some upgrades, and I really hope that they can push us to where we need to be, because we need to be quicker than this.“
